The Power of Surrender
We see these signs all over town. They are triangular in shape and red and white in color. When we approach we know that our job is to wait and see if there is other traffic before we proceed. These signs say, “Yield.” In context, to yield means, “to give up possession of one’s claim or demand; to surrender or relinquish physical control; to surrender or submit (oneself) to another.” We know it is not only the law that demands that we yield, but it is in our best interest and safety to do so. Sometimes patience pays off. Sometimes we are delivered by our willingness to surrender.
Years ago in Babylon there were three young Jewish men who also recognized the power of surrender. Their names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. King Nebuchadnezzar assigned them Babylonian names by which they are better known: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. These young men were unwilling to worship the idol the king had set up. They would only worship the one true and living God, Jehovah. After being interviewed by the king and threatened under penalty of death they still resolved not to bow to the golden statue. They were cast into the furnace of fire and delivered without incident by the power of God.
As the three young men walked out of the fire unsinged, Nebuchadnezzar offered this corresponding statement: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God!” (Dan. 3:28).
Notice the phrase, “yielded their bodies.” An enormous amount of power exists in such a thought. The idea is that they fully surrendered themselves to the flames. Such is almost hard to fathom. The king recognized that their ability to yield was connected to the level of their trust and faith in Jehovah. The more we trust something the more we can surrender. People don’t jump out of planes if they don’t trust the soundness of the parachute. People don’t commit in relationships who don’t trust the one to whom they are committed. People will not yield to a god in whom they don’t truly believe. Our surrender and the degree to which we can yield our bodies to God will always be in direct proportion to our level of faith and trust in Him.
Which brings us to the final question: Can we fully yield to Jehovah? Talk is cheap. Real-life furnaces have a way of proving the extent of our actual commitment. But the deeper our faith, and the greater our trust, the more we will be able to surrender. Only flame-proof faith can discover the power of genuine deliverance. Only full surrender can experience the reality that there is nothing too hard for the Lord.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” – Isaiah 43:2-3a
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